The Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) has awarded Kapsch TrafficCom (Kapsch) a contract to replace and maintain all roadside tolling equipment in the mixed-mode, cash, and express toll lanes under MDTA management. The contract commenced in February 2018 and includes the replacement of all toll equipment, expected to be converted to the Kapsch system by 2020, and six years of subsequent operations and maintenance as well as the option to extend the contract for additional four years.

The new roadside equipment will include RFID toll readers, automated license plate recognition (ALPR) cameras, and scanners in the mixed-mode lanes. In addition, Kapsch will install its stereoscopic Vehicle Detection and Classification sensor (nVDC) in the all-electronic toll (AET) lanes. The nVDC is a 3D video-based sensor that can track and classify vehicles throughout the entire toll zone while triggering ALPR cameras. Trip-building will be a feature of the new toll system, a proven Kapsch solution in which individual vehicle transactions at toll points are grouped into sets of continuous trips, and that correlate with transponder reads and license plate numbers to produce a single billable trip for a vehicle’s entire journey. As part of the system replacement, Kapsch will also provide license plate image-review services and fully-formed transactions to the MDTA back office, enhancing accuracy and auditability of the tolling system.